Departed pets;

Madam

Thanks for this thread - it's made me realise I'm not the only one feeling such grief for our departed Caspar. He was 17 or 18(don't know his exact age as he was a rescue cat)with liver and heart problems we thought were under control but he took a turn for the worse while we were on holiday. We got a phone call from the vet the night before we came home(no drinks or dinner that night - just the two of us looking at each other with dread and fear for him). Vet suggested he be put to sleep as asap as he was only keeping him going just so we could say goodbye. He went off softly and peacefully in my arms with a little sigh(a habit the husband say's he got from me:))but God I thought my heart would break! Its been three days now and I'm trying to remember just the 15 years of love and fun he gave us but the house seems so empty and I was browning some chicken for a curry there and usually I listen out for him running downstairs for a wee bit of fried chicken(his favourite food in all the world:)) but no and here I am blubbing again(and probably a bit too incoherent to be on here - sorry:o).

boomerang

"We have a secret, you and I
That no-one else shall know,
For who but I shall see you lie
At night by fire-glow?
And who but I can reach my hand
Before we go to bed
And feel the living warmth of you
And touch your silken head?
And only I walk woodland paths
And see in front of me
Your small form racing like the wind
So young again and free.
And only I can see you swim
In every brook we pass,
And when I call - no one but I,
Can see the bending grass."

Nody

Lost our second foster cat today; Linda. She was a beautiful one and half year female; brought in at about a year old with hip damage which required extensive surgery. She was very grumpy the first months and did not want anything to do with any of our other cats.

In the last months her personality started to show though; she stared to venture out from her room and while there was still posturing on occasion she also ate with the other cats. She started to sleep in our bed, jump up to windows to look out (something she could not do before due to her leg issues) and over all things were going in the right direction and we had great hope for her. She would always come running when called for, be a talker if she wanted food even if she was very picky with what she'd eat.

We brought her in for follow up check and found additional bone had grown into her joint a month ago so we brought her in today for her third operation. Something went wrong and this time the anesthesia did not take as it should and she died on the operation table never waking up. Only last night we served her raw chicken (her favorite dish) as we knew she would not be allowed to eat for 12h before the operation.

You'd think it would get easier over time but I miss Linda; she'll always have a place in our hearts for the joy she brought even if it was only for six months.

RIP Linda; your leg will never hurt you or limit you again and you'll never be forgotten.

Irish Stones

Nody wrote: »

You'd think it would get easier over time but I miss Linda; she'll always have a place in our hearts for the joy she brought even if it was only for six months.

RIP Linda; your leg will never hurt you or limit you again and you'll never be forgotten.

It's always a great pain for our hearts, when a pet goes to pets' heaven, but it's even more painful when it happens if they're young or after we did the greatest sacrifices to cure them from bad diseases and then something else takes them away from us.

I'm sending a special hug and a kiss to all the departed pets in this thread.

inocybe

Had my 2 year old cat put to sleep today after a short illness. Feel so sad, and full of regret for taking him in. The euthanasia process is not as peaceful as I was led to believe, I wish I'd let him be to die at home.
Heartbroken.

brrabus

inocybe wrote: »

Had my 2 year old cat put to sleep today after a short illness. Feel so sad, and full of regret for taking him in. The euthanasia process is not as peaceful as I was led to believe, I wish I'd let him be to die at home.
Heartbroken.

So sad for you. The regret would be there regardless of the circumstances, that's what makes us human, well at least us animal lovers. I am sure you did the right thing, don't beat yourself up. He is at peace now, think of the good times, you will never forget him and he will never forget you.

Rainbow Bridge

Irish Stones

inocybe wrote: »

Had my 2 year old cat put to sleep today after a short illness. Feel so sad, and full of regret for taking him in. The euthanasia process is not as peaceful as I was led to believe, I wish I'd let him be to die at home.
Heartbroken.

So sad to read these words.
Do you think that something went wrong in the process, that the vets didn't act in the more right and professional way?
My fear is that a vet could be not enough trained and prepared to do such a thing and that a pet would suffer...
I witnessed two euthanasias so far, for two cats of mine, and in both cases all went smooth enough. And all was finished in a matter of a few seconds, one or two.

I'm terribly sad for the loss of your cat, so young... :-(

mymo

I found Mouse killed on a road this morning, she was half dead when we found her last September, wasn't meant to stay with us but we fell in love with her and couldn't part with her. She got better, grew into the most beautiful cat, she must of been a year a couple of weeks ago.
My lovely neighbour came and told me he thought it was her, it was, my daughter still hasn't stopped crying, we're heartbroken. I never did get a video of her playing fetch with tennis balls, or wrestling the dogs.
She had such an amazing personality and was stunning, everyone who met her loved her.

Can't find the words to say any more

brrabus

@ Mymo Crying for you, know how you and your daughter feels. She was beautiful. This lump in my throat is going to choke me.

inocybe

mouse was absolutely beautiful, so sorry. My son is still crying every night for our cat At least we gave them good lives.

Tigger

alfie-cat

miju

Sam - beautiful pedigree collie last week

Irish Stones

mymo wrote: »

I found Mouse killed on a road this morning,

She was really wonderful. I'm so sorry for your huge loss.
Roads are dangerous for cats, I'm terrified that one day I could kill of of them, I couldn't forgive myself.
A kiss to Mouse!

beardybrewer

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Irish Stones

Jerry looks so wonderful, I'm sorry
I can't help myself from crying every time I read the rainbow bridge words...

Layinghen

Glad I am not the only one. I am in bits here after reading it, tears streaming down my face. Beautiful words.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I lost my cat Seamus on Tuesday evening, he was two years 5 months. I live in the countryside and he was playing out at my gate when a car hit him. He ran towards the ditch at the far side and there was nothing the driver could have done to avoid him on such a narrow road. They stopped and came in to tell me and were very upset about it. I appreciated that because most people would've kept driving.

There wasn't a mark on him he died instantly, he was such a fragile little thing but he'd a huge attitude. I posted about him in this forum before asking for advice on how to deal with his rambunctious behaviour when he was younger.

Him and I became very close, he'd sit on my lap every evening in front of the tele and he'd be in my bedroom most nights up on the end of my bed, he loved attention. It's hard to take that he's gone now, my dog adored him especially.

I buried him in the towel from his basket at the top of the garden, I just feel so sorry for him, he was a free spirit and loved his life, he just didn't get long enough at it.

Bannasidhe

If I could go a bit off topic here with the Mods permission.

I'd like to ask everyone here to keep this little guy in their thoughts next Thursday morning as he undergoes life saving surgery for a liver shunt. If the surgery is not successful..well...he will be lucky to make it to next Spring as he has already defied the odds by making it to 14 months and, to be delicate about it, he will not have a pleasant end to his life unless we PTS before things get bad. Surgery is his ONLY chance and if successful will cure him 100%.

His name is Scooby.



I have posted in this tread while my heart was breaking about my beloved Gráinne dog and wept anew reading other's posts as they expressed their sense of loss- so, let's hope we can win this one and that I am not here posting through my tears next Thursday but instead am telling you all how we saved a special little guy who has been fighting for life since he was born.

Thank you.
Bannasidhe.

FreeFallin94

Just found out that my lovely Willow was found dead a few night ago by my mom My dad didn't want to tell me, but I rang him at work today to ask him could we drive around looking for him as I was worried

Dad got home and had to tell me the truth. I am so sad and can't stop crying. We had him for 6 years. I knew that something was wrong when he was away for 2 days- he never stayed away longer than a few hours.

I am so, so devastated. He was such a loving, gentle cat and I honestly can't imagine him not being around

Karl Stein

Such a happy sad-thread this. Sad for all the bereaved pet lovers but happy there are people out there that care so much about our furry friends.

metaoblivia

So, this isn't quite a departed pet story, but I saw an animal die today, and I've been very upset about it ever since.

I live in Florida and we have lots of turtles and tortoises, so it's not unusual to see them trying to cross roads. I was driving down a road and saw a small turtle or tortoise just beginning to cross. Fortunately, I saw him in time to miss him and then pulled over to help him cross. As I was walking toward him, another car came and had they just stayed the course, the middle of the car would have gone over him and he would have been fine. But instead they swerved and hit him directly and just shattered him all over the road right in front of me. The sound of it was absolutely sickening. And they just kept driving - didn't even slow down.

My father always pulled over for turtles and tortoises when I was young and he told me it was because some people will purposefully run them over if they see them in the road, and I believed him. I just never thought I'd see it close up like that.

I can't help thinking that if I would have pulled over sooner and closer to him, I may have gotten to him in time. I was so stunned by what happened that I didn't even think about trying to get the driver's license plate number. I decided the only thing I could do was donate some money to a local turtle/tortoise rescue in his memory, so that's what I did.

RIP little turtle/tortoise. I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Our Basset Hound Monty , died this morning.Looks like he had cancer.

He had a blood clot a couple of months ago and some weight loss. The blood clot burst and he was on the mend and putting back on the weight, but he stopped eating for the last 4 or 5 days and was very thin again and so we brought him to the vet yesterday when he started having difficulty breathing.

Sadly it looks like it was cancer and not worms which is what the vet initially thought that was causing his weight loss, I'm just annoyed now that the first vet we brought him to with his blood clot didn't do more tests and we might have noticed the cancer.He had been bullied by our other dogs and we thought maybe that was affecting him as well so we separated him from them.I suppose you just never think of cancer when it comes to dogs.

I'm going to miss him he was such a lovely dog really friendly and just loved people.

RIP Monty 2006-2013

Irish Stones

metaoblivia wrote: »

So, this isn't quite a departed pet story, but I saw an animal die today, and I've been very upset about it ever since.[...CUT...] I didn't even think about trying to get the driver's license plate number.

I always try to dodge animals on the road and sometimes I even pulled over to put them back in safe places.
One week ago, while I was taking my cat to the vet clinic for an emergency, I found a pigeon on the footpath right outside the clinic door. It couldn't fly and had trouble walking so I easily got caught of it. So I stepped into the clinic with two animals.
First off they had a look at the pigeon but told me that by law they couldn't cure him and I had to take him to the wild animals rescue at the veterinarian university 8 miles from here.
Then they treated my cat and it took me 6 hours to get out of that clinic. The pigeon was kept into a cardboard box for the whole time.
When I left the clinic I took my cat back home, gave some water with sugar to the pigeon and ran to the university.
When I was halfway to the university the car in front of me hit a pigeon who was flying too low. I didn't see the pigeon arriving, but I did see the cloud of feathers from the car in front of me and then something grey rolling on the road. I slowed but it wasn't too late, the poor bird was dead.
So, while I was trying to save a pigeon somebody else was killing one and didn't stop or slow down. I took the plate number but I don't know what to do with it.
Damn crazy drivers! Had him driven slower that pigeon would be alive now.

OldNotWIse

metaoblivia wrote: »

So, this isn't quite a departed pet story, but I saw an animal die today, and I've been very upset about it ever since.

I live in Florida and we have lots of turtles and tortoises, so it's not unusual to see them trying to cross roads. I was driving down a road and saw a small turtle or tortoise just beginning to cross. Fortunately, I saw him in time to miss him and then pulled over to help him cross. As I was walking toward him, another car came and had they just stayed the course, the middle of the car would have gone over him and he would have been fine. But instead they swerved and hit him directly and just shattered him all over the road right in front of me. The sound of it was absolutely sickening. And they just kept driving - didn't even slow down.

My father always pulled over for turtles and tortoises when I was young and he told me it was because some people will purposefully run them over if they see them in the road, and I believed him. I just never thought I'd see it close up like that.

I can't help thinking that if I would have pulled over sooner and closer to him, I may have gotten to him in time. I was so stunned by what happened that I didn't even think about trying to get the driver's license plate number. I decided the only thing I could do was donate some money to a local turtle/tortoise rescue in his memory, so that's what I did.

RIP little turtle/tortoise. I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

How sad, some people have no humanity Hope you are feeling a littl better now. I saw a pigeon dying once and it took weeks to get the image out of my head. I kind of saw it coming in slow motion but couldn't look away even though I wanted to - I was willing the car to avoid it! He landed down on the road while traffic was stopped and was just wandering aimlessly the way they do, but when lights changed he didnt move. The first car immobilised him and the second finished him off I remember the sound was sickening, like a small pop. The saddest part was the way he just closed his little eyes, like he knew what was coming after the first one hit. I've rescued loads of injured ones since, and always think of him when I do. Poor animals haven't a chance on the road.

Edit: on the funny side, I'm now terrified of seeing it happen again, so when I see a bird nearing the edge of the pavement I actually run past so that I dont have to witness it's wandering onto the road and demise that follows! Apparently, it's hilarious. Someone will be walking beside me chatting and all of a sudden I'll fixate on this bird and then start walking really fast, wide-eyed with fear til I get past lol

Irish Stones

OldNotWIse wrote: »

I remember the sound was sickening, like a small pop.

In my humble opinion, I think you could have saved us from this haunting detail...

OldNotWIse

Irish Stones wrote: »

In my humble opinion, I think you could have saved us from this haunting detail...

Sorry, I'm one of those "talk it out" types - I have to keep reliving it over and over until it's out of my system. Hence I have very few close friends

Sorry again

boomerang

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Sorry, I'm one of those "talk it out" types - I have to keep reliving it over and over until it's out of my system. Hence I have very few close friends

LOL that made me laugh OldNotWise, on a day when I'm missing my dogs terribly.

sonoftom

Bannasidhe wrote: »

If I could go a bit off topic here with the Mods permission.

I'd like to ask everyone here to keep this little guy in their thoughts next Thursday morning as he undergoes life saving surgery for a liver shunt. If the surgery is not successful..well...he will be lucky to make it to next Spring as he has already defied the odds by making it to 14 months and, to be delicate about it, he will not have a pleasant end to his life unless we PTS before things get bad. Surgery is his ONLY chance and if successful will cure him 100%.

His name is Scooby.



I have posted in this tread while my heart was breaking about my beloved Gráinne dog and wept anew reading other's posts as they expressed their sense of loss- so, let's hope we can win this one and that I am not here posting through my tears next Thursday but instead am telling you all how we saved a special little guy who has been fighting for life since he was born.

Thank you.
Bannasidhe.

Thoughts and prayers are with you this day Scooby,

Bannasidhe

Bannasidhe wrote: »

If I could go a bit off topic here with the Mods permission.

I'd like to ask everyone here to keep this little guy in their thoughts next Thursday morning as he undergoes life saving surgery for a liver shunt. If the surgery is not successful..well...he will be lucky to make it to next Spring as he has already defied the odds by making it to 14 months and, to be delicate about it, he will not have a pleasant end to his life unless we PTS before things get bad. Surgery is his ONLY chance and if successful will cure him 100%.

His name is Scooby.



I have posted in this tread while my heart was breaking about my beloved Gráinne dog and wept anew reading other's posts as they expressed their sense of loss- so, let's hope we can win this one and that I am not here posting through my tears next Thursday but instead am telling you all how we saved a special little guy who has been fighting for life since he was born.

Thank you.
Bannasidhe.

sonoftom wrote: »

Thoughts and prayers are with you this day Scooby,

Just heard from the vets and Scooby is still with us - not totally out of the woods yet as we are awaiting results of a liver biopsy to see if he has developed a condition called micro hepatic dysplasia but vet reckons he has a 75-80% chance of full recovery.

I think we will take this one as a win!

aonb

I avoid this thread like the plague - too sad for softies
On monday night we put our lovely ancient Collie to sleep. He was completely deaf, going blind, his back legs/hips were going, he had a stroke & stopped eating at the weekend. He had an awful life until we found him. Terrified of everything. Began to trust us after many years, but would never come in to the house - no matter what we tried. Lived his life outside. Every morning at 7am, he waited outside the patio door for his digestive biscuits, and his walk. Even until friday he somehow managed to come for a short walk with the other dogs (towards the end, the other dogs & I started to go out the front door as it was so hard to see him trying to come with us, when he wasnt strong enough) I knew he trusted me when he used to let me pick him up when he fell down. Its so wierd not having him at the back door. He was so happy with so little. Such a lovely gentle gentle dog.